Mom-Mom Has Arrived!

My parents left yesterday to head out on their cross-country road trip back to the east coast.  About 7 hours later Myke's mom arrived in San Diego to meet her grandsons for the very first time.  We surprised her at the airport but meeting her inside with the entire crew.  Chloë was very excited to see her arrive and immediately started asking when they were going to the pool and Sea World!  I hope Mom-Mom is ready for all of this!  It's not for the faint of heart :)   

Myke is finally recovered from his strep throat and feeling better!  Yay!  It was very difficult having a man down the past week!  My parents went to see a play tonight so it was just the 5 of us.  Here is a picture from our outing.  

Sugar & Scribe

There is a new little Irish bakery a couple blocks from our house called "Sugar & Scribe" that my parents and I decided to take a little stroll to this morning (this "morning" being 11am..because I can't get out earlier than that these days...just not possible!).  It is owned an ran by a girl whose parents immigrated from Ireland in the 1950s and she learned to bake and cook all sorts of Irish foods and treats from them.  It's a really cute little bakery and must have opened up while I was on bed rest because I hadn't really noticed it before.  Anyways, the food is all homemade and fresh--and delicious!  Also, it has an outdoor covered patio that is dog-friendly--always a great thing in my book!

Dad tried a slice of this cake--it was yummy to the tummy!

Pecan & brown sugar cake.

Eli got his first ride in the Baby Bjorn now that he is at the minimum required weight of 8lbs

Kyla would love a taste of that cake!

Eli would like a taste, too!

Chloë missed the bakery adventure due to being in preschool at the time...but here is a photo of her from yesterday.  Gramma & Grandpa took her to "Kid Ventures" play land for a few hours.  Fun!

We're sad to say that our first set of "helpers" are leaving us this coming Saturday.  My parents will be heading back home to the east coast.  My mom has been out here since mid-February when I went on strict bed rest and has been such an amazing help.  She and Chloë have really bonded and I know Chloë especially will have a hard time and wonder "where Gramma go?".  My dad has been out here for 3 weeks now as well.  One of his main "jobs" has been to walk the dog so I know Kyla will be sulking after he leaves as well!  With three small children it is sometimes impossible to get the dog walked!  We have four adults in the house and it's still challenging to get everything done that needs to be done.   Myke and I would be in a tough place if we didn't have the help that we have!  They have let us nap during the day after we've had little sleep the night before, they have done all the laundry and folding for months, they do all the grocery store runs, get Chloë up, dressed, teeth and hair brushed, take Chloë to preschool, run errands we need done, make or pick up meals, occasionally take the babies overnight so Myke and I can get a solid stretch of sleep (thank you MOM for this one!  This was the best gift ever!!) and most challengingly, entertain a strong-minded two year old who wants life to go her way or the highway a majority of the time!  Of all the jobs I know that has been the most tiring!

We'll definitely be sad to see them go, but I know they are ready to get back to their own lives.  They actually ended up buying our other car (we purchases a minivan and decided to sell the Hyundai Veracruz) so they are going to drive it across country to get home.  So that will be a fun adventure for them!

Checking out a may to plan their cross-country route

Evening stroll on the boardwalk

Me & Eli by the beach 

Luckily, we won't be completely on our own just yet-- Myke's mom will be arriving the same day my parents leave!  So, while we will be one-man-down until his dad comes out a bit later, we will still have help--and fresh energy!   We are so blessed to have the family we do--they have really dropped everything when we have needed them this past year.  We honestly couldn't have done it without them!  

Slideshow

http://angelagraves.com/viewing/?slideshowID=178833

Our friend (and awesome photographer!), Angie came down from L.A. to do a photo shoot of the babies and Chloë last Wednesday.  She probably took some 500 photos, but here are some of the favorites in a slideshow that she created for us.  Thank you, Angie!  And Thank You also to Heather who is the best baby-wrangler this side of the Mississippi :)    I absolutely love the photos!  Enjoy the pictures!

Is it Really June Already?!

Life is extremely busy right now...I live my life from one feeding to the next.  Feeding two infants is no easy task, especially since they eat every 3-4 hours around the clock and each feeding session is still taking up to two hours when you include nursing, bottle-feeding to top them off if needed, diaper changes (these boys fill their diapers 2-3x per feeding!), and then pumping.  If you have 2 people involved in the feeding session you can keep it to a little over an hour, but if I'm flying solo then it takes about two hours, only to be started again soon after I finish!  I'm hoping that with practice we can one day work faster and more efficiently!  As for now it's round-the-clock feedings and diapers for Owen & Eli.

I do get out when I can though--it's a MUST to keep my sanity!  Especially right now, as we found out yesterday that Myke has strep throat...so he is out of commission for the most part and needs to keep his distance from the kids as much as possible.  He's on meds now so apparently he isn't contagious anymore, so that's good news!  Now we just need him to start feeling better.

The boys will be three weeks tomorrow already!  I already feel like the time is going by too fast!

Well, time to get some shut-eye while I can...next feeding is set to start in just over an hour!

All my babies!

Stroller ride

Scooter ride

Owen got his thumb...for a few minutes!

Little baby in a big crib

Ice cream!

Please Don't Touch!

It's amazing how many people see infant carriers on a stroller and feel the immediate need to touch the baby (or babies) riding in them!  I remember people at Target hovering over Chloë when she was newborn but with twins it's an entirely different ball game.  Myke and I went to a class at the hospital last week and he dropped me off at the door with the babies (in the above stroller--minus the cover-up "tents"---but I did have baby blankets draped over) and before I walked 5 feet I was accosted by the valet man--he ran up and started going on about how cute the babies were and pulled back a blanket started tickling Eli's feet!  Then before he was finished a woman came up on my other side and started asking questions.  I'm fine with questions and I realize people are just admiring the babies, but I was already running late to the class so I answered her questions (their names, their ages, etc) as I kept walking towards the door...well, she didn't like that one bit.  She started walking fast along side the stroller to get a peak and then told me to "stop" because she "needed to see the other one", meaning the baby in the front seat whom she hadn't gotten a close-up view of yet.  Those were her exact words.  It was just kind of shocking...she was basically running along side the stroller and pulling the blanket off the front car seat so she could see Owen!  I was starting to get scared!   Anyways, we now are the proud owners of these JJ Cole car seat "tents" that cover the babies in their seats.  They are breathable, have velcro tab closures, won't blow off in the breeze like a draped baby blanket would, and are even quite cute looking!  A curious person would literally have to start un-velcroing the tabs to look at or touch the baby--and hopefully one's impulse control would kick in if they had to start going to such measures just to see a baby...   I'll let you know!   

Some photos: 

An evening at the Hines' household- Chloë already in bed

Owen, Eli, Myke

Chloë doing some skin-to-skin sibling bonding with Eli

Me with my boys: 15 days old